New York Cosmos: Reawakened in the city that never sleeps

Pele (right) joined the New York Cosmos in 1975 and led a troop of superstars who flocked to the North American Soccer League (NASL). George Best, pictured here with the Brazilian, was a Manchester United legend who enjoyed three separate spells in the NASL.

Franz Beckenbauer was captain of the West Germany team which lifted the 1974 World Cup. The Bayern Munich icon won three NASL Soccer Bowls with the Cosmos between 1977 and 1980.

Pele and his compatriot Carlos Alberto spent one season together in the "Big Apple" which culminated with the Cosmos winning the 1977 Soccer Bowl. Carlos Alberto, who captained Brazil to World Cup glory in 1970, played 100 times for the Cosmos in two separate spells.

Pele meets Giovanni Savarese, the Venezuelan coach of the modern day Cosmos. Saverese has pedigree in U.S. football and enjoyed a prolific spell with the New York/New Jersey Metrostars.

The teamsheet for the Cosmos friendly with English third-tier team Leyton Orient. The fixture was vital for the Cosmos as part of their preparations for the new NASL season.

The match program at Leyton Orient's Matchroom Stadium celebrates the arrival of its prestigious opponents.

Ahead of Saturday's match against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, the Cosmos' first competitive fixture in 30 years, the top of the Empire State Building is turned green.

Marcos Senna is the most high-profile player in the current squad. The Brazil-born midfielder was a key part of the Spain team which won Euro 2008.

Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls have shown that soccer in the city can be a success. Cosmos COO Erik Stover spent three years with the team, helping the Red Bulls move to a new purpose-built stadium.

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Superstars stateside

Brilliant Beckenbauer

Boys from Brazil

Past and present

Return to action

Humble beginnings

The future is green

Leading light

Soccer in the Big Apple

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The New York Cosmos return for the first time in 30 years on Saturday

A team including Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto shone in the 1970s

The Cosmos drew crowds in excess of 70,000 to Giants Stadium

The Cosmos' first match is against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers

(CNN) -- Once upon a time there was a galaxy of stars which burned bright in the "Big Apple", a trio of world champions who played football from another planet and sparked a U.S. love affair with the beautiful game.

The star-spangled North American Soccer League (NASL) and the New York Cosmos, for a brief time, helped football take off on the other side of the Atlantic.

Pele, widely regarded as the finest footballer of all time, his fellow Brazilian Carlos Alberto and German great Franz Beckenbauer formed the formidable spine of the New York Cosmos -- the most-celebrated team in U.S. soccer history.

"Before joining the Cosmos I was playing for Flamengo in Brazil," Carlos Alberto, who left Flamengo to join the Cosmos in 1977, told CNN. "We'd read in the newspaper everyday how successful football was in New York.

"Every game they broke records for people at the game, 75,000, 77,000, 78,000... I thought, I can't miss out on this!"

A crowd of 73,064 watched on at Giants Stadium as the Cosmos beat the Seattle Sounders in August 1978 to win a second consecutive Soccer Bowl, the NASL's championship match.

But by 1984, the team built around Pele, Carlos Alberto and Beckenbauer, along with the NASL, had sunk into a blackhole of obscurity.

"The Cosmos means a lot to me," reflected Carlos Alberto, who played 100 times for the club in two separate spells. "I had great moments during the six years I was in New York. We contributed a lot to bringing football, soccer to the States.

"I loved New York. My dream today is to see the new New York Cosmos come back and be a great success."

The transfer window means football is rarely off the newspaper back pages in the off season. Much ink has been already been devoted to the question of whether Spurs' Welsh international Gareth Bale will join Real Madrid.

Despite their interest in Bale, Real have already flexed their muscles in the transfer window by signing young Spanish stars Isco (pictured playing for Malaga last season) for $40m and Asier Illarramendi from Real Sociedad for $51m.

Wayne Rooney's future as a Manchester United player continues to be in doubt after Chelsea declared an interest in signing the England forward.

Meanwhile United have made several unsuccessful bids to sign Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who before rejoining the Catalan club had played for Arsenal.

Liverpool are facing a fight to keep hold of striker Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan forward has openly talked of wanting to join Real Madrid, while Arsenal have made a number of bids for Suarez.

Another Uruguayan international Edinson Cavani has changed clubs during the transfer window. Cavani signed a five-year deal with French champions Paris Saint-Germain for a reported French record fee of euro 64 million ($84 million).

After Cavani joined PSG, Napoli used some of the money to sign Argentine international Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid. Higuain, who is reported to have cost Napoli in the region of $50 million, spent six-and-a-half seasons at the Bernabeu and scored a total of 107 goals in 187 appearances.

PSG are not the only French club spending big. Monaco served notice of their intent to challenge at the top of world football by completing the signing of Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao. The transfer fee wasn't disclosed by Monaco, but it was reported to be almost $80 million.

An August 3 fixture against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in a relaunched NASL will be the Cosmos' first league fixture since September 15, 1984.

The latest incarnation of the NASL is an eight-team competition, which is unrelated to the U.S.'s current leading football competition Major League Soccer (MLS).

"I think the potential is enormous," the Cosmos' COO Erik Stover told CNN. "Everybody remembers the Cosmos and everybody has a story about it. We certainly have the potential to do that again."

The club was refounded in 2010 and a host of former stars have aligned to boost the returning team's profile.

The Cosmos are once again competing in the NASL, which has been up and running as an eight-team league since 2011.

Arena da Amazonia - an artist's impression of what the stadium in Manaus will look like once complete.

Construction continues at the Arena da Amazonia in June 2013.

The exterior of the stadium that will host games for the 2014 World Cup.

Miguel Capobiango Neto, the man who is overseeing the World Cup preparations for the city of Manaus.

Manaus sits on the banks of the Rio Negro river, an important source of food and transportation.

A busy fish market in Manaus, a city that consumes more fish per person per year than the entire rest of Brazil, and includes fish from the Rio Negro and Amazon Rivers not found in any other part of the world.

The port outside the fish market. Ships come from surrounding river regions at all hours of the day and night, offloading tons of fish for sale.

Indigenous tribes still dot the Amazon rainforest surrounding the city of Manaus.

A hut belonging to indigenous tribe along the Rio Negro river.

Manaus' famous opera house, built in the late 1800s, stands out in the city skyline.

Light fantastic

Construction race

World Cup deadline

Stadium overseer

Unique city

Fish and more fish

Fish market

Amazon tribes

Amazon life

Opera house

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Manaus' World Cup temple

Gerardo Martino has signed a two-year deal at Barcelona after agreeing to replace former coach Tito Vilanova.

Barcelona's star player Lionel Messi is a huge admirer of fellow Argentine Martino. Both men hail from Rosario and Messi's father is a close friend of the new Barcelona manager.

Vilanova took over from Josep Guardiola as Barcelona coach in June 2012 but was forced to leave his post to continue his fight against throat cancer. Vilanova missed nearly three months of last season undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Guardiola won 14 trophies with Barcelona between 2008 and 2012 before taking a sabbatical. Now in charge of Champions League winner Bayern Munich, Guardiola will face his former side in a friendly game at the Allianz Arena.

As well as Messi, Martino will be able to deploy the considerable talents of Brazilian star Neymar next season.

New man at Camp Nou

Messi's man

Vilanova fights on

From Barca to Bayern

New man at Camp Nou

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New man at Camp Nou

The league has the enviable task of matching MLS, which was established as part of the U.S.'s successful bid to host the 1994 World Cup and has housed star names like David Beckham and Thierry Henry.

Stover knows more than most about creating a New York soccer success stories.

For three years the Pennsylvanian worked at the city's biggest Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise the New York Red Bulls, helping the club move into the purpose-built, 25,000-seater Red Bull Arena.

He plans to repeat the trick for the Cosmos with plans already in place for a $400m stadium complex in Belmont Park area.

Stover also played a part in bringing Thierry Henry, a world and European champion with France, to the States from Barcelona in 2010.

While the Cosmos' history is littered with stellar names, the modern-day team are starting from humble beginnings -- namely the Matchroom Stadium in London.

It is home to third-tier English club Leyton Orient and the venue for a key exhibition match for coach Giovanni Savarese's newly-built team.

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The Cosmos lost 2-1.

"We're very careful to say this is not 1977, this is not 77,000 at Giants Stadium, we don't have Pele and Beckenbauer," Stover replies when asked about the task he faces in trying to live up to the Cosmos' stellar past.

"We have a good squad and we play good soccer and we will grow from there. It needs to be built up, we can't start at that level overnight."

But the Cosmos have been able to recruit one player whose caliber is undeniable.

Senna enjoyed a successful career in Europe with Spanish club Villarreal, helping the team reach the 2006 Champions League semifinals.

The midfielder also represented his adopted homeland at international level and he was a key member of the Spain team which won Euro 2008 and kick started La Roja's recent period of dominance.

The Cosmos' legacy is built on the recruitment of players like Senna and Pele, but Stover has more realistic goals this time around.

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"Marcos is obviously a great player and a recognizable star," he explains. "I think that's the type of player we're looking for.

"We also know that we have to have a sustainable model. We can't over spend, we can't bring in 11 superstars right now, that's not going to do anybody any good. We like our roster now and we like who we are, every team is always evolving."

Carlos Mendes is one of Senna's new teammates and a genuine New Yorker.

The defender boasts a respectable pedigree within U.S. soccer and is a veteran of six years with the Red Bulls.

Despite the weight of history on his new team's shoulders, Mendes is relishing the chance to represent a club with such an illustrious name.

"It's an honor," insists the 32-year-old.

"We can never duplicate that. You're never going to match that team, some of the best players in the world.

"Hopefully we can play attractive soccer, something the fans can be proud of and we can bring some championships back to New York. That's our main focus starting August 3."

Football continues as Brazilians protest

Mendes is part of a team which has been brought together in little over two months by the Cosmos' hierarchy, with coach Savarese at the heart of the effort.

The Venezuelan was a journeyman striker in the MLS, best known for a prolific two-year spell with the New York/New Jersey Metrostars between 1996 and 1998.

He has a team at his disposal which boasts a European champion, but also contains players looking for a second chance at a football career.

"We are very satisfied with what we're building right now, with the players and the family we're creating at the New York Cosmos," says the former Venezuela international.

"I'm having fun. I think this is a great job, with a great organization with a great name. We don't have time to think about pressure, we just have to keep working and make sure we build a new future."

What the future holds for the Cosmos is uncertain. Could the club one day join the Red Bulls in the MLS?

"It's possible," answers Stover. "We don't know. There are no discussions right now. There's no animosity between the groups.

"We just do things one way and MLS does them differently. You never know how things will grow and change over time."

After 30 years in the doldrums, the New York Cosmos are happy enough just being back on the field.